Workmate stabbed chef 'out of the blue'

A kitchen hand has been found not criminally responsible for an attack on a Newcastle cafe chef. (Mark Russell/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A Newcastle kitchen hand who plunged a knife into a chef's chest after hitting her across the head with a frypan claims he was mentally ill and did not know what he was doing was wrong.

Chef Ebony Dee later stumbled out of the Mayfield cafe with the knife still embedded in her body and collapsed before being rushed to John Hunter Hospital where doctors removed the knife.